CCWP05: Making Sense: Perspectives On Interpretation

Preparation for Week 1, Class 2

The reading list for this first unit includes, in addition to the Sacks text we have been discussing, several fiction and non-fiction texts by 20th-century authors dramatizing or reflecting upon some important aspects of interpretation. The reading packet containing these texts will be assembled this afternoon and you should collect it today.

For our next class, I would like you to read through the whole packet and to select two texts on which to base your first essay. Begin early and take your time to reflect on each of the texts and on its possible relationship to the others; annotate and comment on them extensively in your writing diary; then select the two which seem most promising when taken together. You are going to exploit the relationship between the two texts to come upon new thoughts and perspectives of your own; you should neither use the texts as a pretext to rehearse in writing some belief or opinion you already hold, nor defer to their authority so much that your original position fails to come through. Rather, you should see the occasion of engaging seriously with these texts, as with any text, as an occasion to think new thoughts, to come upon ideas you have never before been aware of and might never have entertained had you not happened to encounter the right reading, or the right combination of readings, or of reading and experience, at the right moment.

You should also read the handout about "Elements of the Essay" that was distributed today in class; we will discuss it at our next meeting.

The writing process

This course models writing as a process made up of distinct phases and abilities that can be learned and practised in the context of an ongoing dialogue with your peers, who will read and critique your drafts, yourselves, as the first critics of your own work, and me. For each of the three required essays this process will unfold in a remarkably similar way.

We will start by reading and discussing a number of texts that you will comment on in your reading diary; then each of you will select some texts to write about, and complete a pre-draft assignment.

Three of these will be discussed in class, the rest in individual pre-draft conferences with me.

After you pre-draft conference you will hand in a first draft of your essay together with a cover letter; two of these drafts will be discussed in class.

I will respond in writing to all your drafts and you will discuss your ideas for revision with me in a draft conference.

You will then hand in your final revision, which will be graded.

Pre-draft assignment for Essay 1

After selecting the two texts you plan to concentrate on, you should compose a one-page, single-spaced response stating the motivations for your choice, exploring the nature of the relationship between the two texts and the reasons for your interest, and explaining why you think someone else should find these reasons compelling enough to want to read your essay. This probably won't come easy at first; we are all very good at having hunches and not quite so good at explaining them in detail to other people: so much about our intuitions depends on powerful assumptions and gut feelings we are not aware of that even trying to talk about them feels awkward. But in a writing course it is important to realize that we can only communicate to others what we can make explicit, and that, while we have every right to expect our audience to engage with our work seriously and respectfully, we can hardly assume them to be expert mind-readers: teasing out implicit meanings, uncovering hidden assumptions and becoming aware of the subconscious reasons for automatic reactions, however unfamiliar and difficult it may feel at first, is the first and most important step towards making our meaning clear, to ourselves as much as to our readers.

Starting from the two texts you have selected, you should also write down three analytical questions (questions that cannot be answered with objective certainty by careful reading but that stimulate autonomous thought and research), quote passages from the texts that you feel have to do with these questions, and comment in writing on the passages so as to make their relevance to the questions apparent.

Also, please do not forget to write down any questions or doubts you may have about the readings, "Elements of the Essay", or the assignment, and to bring them up in class for discussion; if you are having trouble completing the assignment please do not hesitate to contact me promptly by e-mail.

Three of you will bring fifteen copies of their responses and questions to our next meeting for class discussion. The rest of you will discuss their pre-draft assignments with me in individual conferences after class. I look forward to getting to know you as writers.